While I was away I picked up a copy of the Evening Post, a Swansea institution that has gone downhill in recent years. The ‘paper I knew long ago used to bring out its first edition around midday, with further editions up to and including the ‘Final’ or ‘Late Night Final’. You knew which edition it was by the number of windows filled in on the Mumbles lighthouse image at the top right of the front page. One window filled for the first edition . . .

Then of course there was the Sporting Post on Saturday night, with young boys racing from pub to pub to sell their allotted copies. In competition with them were the ladies of the Sally Ann with bundles of War Cry, and occasionally, yours truly with a band of Plaidistas, offloading Welsh Nation. The competition was fierce! (Though unlike the paper-sellers and the bonneted ladies I could – and did – partake of liquid refreshment to keep me going.)

In those days, long before the internet, before pubs had wall to wall television, but after bookies became legal in 1960, the pubs downtown seemed to be filled in the afternoons with men reading newspapers, men of studious mien, a pencil in one hand and often a half-smoked fag behind an ear. The real professionals had a fag behind one ear and a spare pencil behind the other.

I am of course referring now to aficionados of the turf, the sport of kings . . . and of layabouts dreaming of easy money. For members of the latter group to know which nag had won the 2:30 at Doncaster required the ‘Stop Press’ entry on latest edition of the Post, and it was quite common to see breathless groups of men waiting at the Post‘s various delivery points in anticipation of sudden wealth. All gone.

In recent years, printing was moved out of the city, the Evening Post became a morning paper, and what had once been the Welsh daily with the largest circulation lost its crown to the Daily Post. Then, in what might prove to be the coup de grace the Post was taken over by Trinity Mirror, and is now controlled from Cardiff, its online presence merged with Llais y Sais and the Echo in WalesOnline.

If further proof was needed of the Post‘s downward slide it came when I saw that Julian Ruck now has a weekly column. Here’s his effort from the 7th. (Click to enlarge.)

Before considering what he wrote let’s look at how he’s described by the Post: “Julian Ruck is a novelist, broadcaster, political commentator and guest public speaker”.

His ‘novels’ are excruciating pot-boilers that he publishes himself but nobody buys. “Broadcaster”? Mmm, has anyone seen or heard him ‘broadcast’ – or have I been lucky? “Political Commentator”; well, I’m a political commentator, everyone who expresses a political opinion is a political commentator, the term means nothing. “Guest public speaker” is a curious phrase, why not just ‘public speaker’? I suppose it’s trying to say that he gets invited to places. (Twice?)

As for what he has to say, well, here’s a sample, “Dear me, this Welsh bit is getting a bit tedious isn’t it?” The senior language of this island, the language spoken in London when the English were still Germans, is reduced to “this Welsh bit”. What a twat!

Later he describes Welsh as “a foreign tongue”, which is not only offensive but also inaccurate. Because you see, Ruck, it wouldn’t matter if no one spoke Welsh – it would still be the national language of Wales. That’s because it is unique to Wales, it is the ancestral language of the Welsh, and for most of our history it defined Welsh nationality. English may now be the majority language of Wales, but it can never be the national language.

From Amazon, where his books can be bought for £0.01

It would be easy to dismiss Ruck as a pompous little prick, a snob, but I feel rather sorry for him. He’s bitter because he’s been denied the success he feels he deserves. His search for a scapegoat has led him to a conspiracy of Welsh speakers who produce dastardly schemes to deny us the wit and wisdom of Julian Ruck. This leads to him hating the Welsh language itself and all those who speak it . . . maybe he thinks all Welsh speakers are in on the conspiracy.

Face it, Ruck, you’re a crap writer and a mercenary bigot, an opinionated nobody. But to give your attacks some credibility you have to be bigged up into a popular writer, someone whose opinion matters.

Though it says a lot about modern Wales that it’s the Labour-supporting, Welsh-hating, Trinity Mirror Group that provides you with a platform for your BritNat bigotry.

P.S. I’m informed that Ruck’s latest column, on the 14th, was used to attack Welsh language education. Why does anyone buy a rag from Trinity Mirror?

♦

THOSE LEAFLETS

Now let’s turn to others who share Ruck’s attitude to the Welsh language, I’m talking now of those connected with Tales With a Twist.

Thanks to the Electoral Commission I now know that distributing election material lacking an imprint is not an offence; the offence lies in publishing and printing election material without an imprint. But of course, without an imprint, it’s very, very difficult to prove who wrote and printed the document being distributed. Something of a Catch-22 situation.

Which is why I asked the Electoral Commission to give me examples of successful prosecutions for not having an imprint. The response was: ” . . . where the material is a newspaper advertisement we can contact the newspaper for the details of the person who placed the advertisement.” Obviously, but with the best will in the world, someone would have to be really, really stupid to put election material that lacked an imprint in a newspaper advertisement. And would a newspaper accept such an advertisement, knowing that it broke the law?

click to enlarge

Though one possibility intrigues me. What if I was to write and run off a few hundred copies of a leaflet ahead of the next general election, a leaflet claiming that the local Labour candidate attends the same Penrhyndeudraeth coven as the Conservative candidate, where they romp around bollock naked, beating each other with riding crops – but the leaflets never left my house.

According to the Electoral Commission I would have committed an offence, even though no one would read what I’d written. Which is absurd, because what I’d written and printed could only influence electors if it was distributed, yet distributing unattributed election material is not an offence. Am I alone in thinking that the law has got this the wrong way round?

Anyway, things are moving, slowly. North Wales Police seem to be interested. I now have copies of issues 1 and 2 of Tales With a Twist, proving that we are dealing with a campaign rather than a one-off, and even though Councillor Louise Hughes has denied distributing the leaflets I have statements that a) confirm she was distributing them in Trawsfynydd on April 28, and b) that she gave copies to Steven Churchman, the Lib Dem councillor. Other statements are promised.

As for who printed the leaflets, well we all know who that was. What’s more, when I spoke with the DC in Caernarfon on Thursday afternoon we discussed the printer and yet neither of us needed to mention his name. He is – to quote Donald Rumsfeld – a known known.

I have a feeling this may not be over.

♦

PLAID CYMRU & THE SNP

Many of you reading this may get a warm glow from watching Leanne Wood hugging Nicola Sturgeon, but how realistic is it to compare Plaid Cymru with the Scottish National Party? I got to wondering how their results since the first elections to the devolved bodies in 1999 compared.

In 1999 Plaid did marginally better than the SNP; point three of a percentage point lower in the constituency vote but over three percentage points higher in the regional/list vote. A good showing.

In 2003 both parties lost support. Plaid Cymru’s performance can be largely attributed to the palace coup that removed Dafydd Wigley, Plaid’s most popular ever leader. The fall in support for the SNP is due to a number of factors, certainly a change of leader also played a part, though most would agree that John Swinney was a more inspiring replacement for Alex Salmond than Ieuan Wyn Jones was for Dafydd Wigley.

The picture in Scotland was further complicated by what could be explained, perhaps paradoxically, as a falling off in support for the SNP, but the electorate still returned more MSPs in favour of independence.

For while the SNP lost 8 seats in 2003 the Scottish Greens gained 6 seats and Tommy Sheridan’s Scottish Socialists increased their tally by 5. Which meant that there were 40 MSPs (out of 129) supporting independence after the 2003 election against 37 in 1999.

When we move on to 2007 we see the gulf opening. Plaid Cymru improves marginally on 2003 but nothing like the increase that was expected with an unpopular Labour government in Westminster, whereas the SNP’s support increased by almost 50% to make it the largest party.

The election of 2011 is remarkable in that, in Wales, with the Tories now in power in London, many Welsh voters were persuaded to ‘send a message to Lundun, innit’ by voting Labour. By comparison, in Scotland, a Tory government in London did nothing for Labour as the SNP romped home with a majority of the seats.

Most recently, in 2016, the SNP may have lost six seats (and its majority) but in terms of votes there was a fall of only 2.3% in the regional share but an increase of 1.1% in the constituency vote. Add in the two Scottish Green representatives and there is still a pro-independence majority of 65 MSPs in Holyrood.

Here in Wales, Plaid Cymru may have improved on its dismal performance in 2011 (if it hadn’t, then it might have been time to call it a day), partly due to having a new leader in Leanne Wood, but still got less than half the SNP’s share of the vote, leaving the 1999 result looking like a lost golden age.

In Scotland, the issue for a decade or more, and the issue still dominating political debate, is independence. Here in Wales we have a ‘national’ party that would prefer not to debate independence (or colonisation, or exploitation, or anything that might upset or annoy anyone), a party that is bumping along the bottom and going nowhere.

You know my view, I gave up on Plaid Cymru years ago. With Wales falling apart around us, suffering attacks from all quarters, how much longer can you continue supporting a party going nowhere, a party that will sabotage itself if there’s any possibility of success? (Believe me, it will!)

(You’ll notice that I’ve spared Plaid Cymru’s embarrassment by sticking with the devolved vote, not comparing the relative showings for Westminster elections, in which Plaid does even worse.)

♦

MONKTON

In the interests of clarity this whole section was re-written 17.07.2017

WHAT WE KNOW

There were unpleasant scenes in Monkton, Pembrokeshire, on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning last week when a crowd gathered to protest about a paedophile the crowd believed was living at Gwilliam Court. As is invariably the case in such incidents the crowd included some seeking an excuse for trouble, these being responsible for allegedly setting bins on fire, letting down the tyres on police vehicles and other mischief.

Despite the behaviour of these idiots there was a genuine cause for concern, for the woman allegedly living in Gwilliam Court was identified (though not named) by both the Sun and the Daily Mail as Amber Roderick. Her record would cause any parent to worry about her presence on their estate. And yet there are so many questions about the whole business.

On the assumption that we are dealing with Roderick let’s look at her most recent conviction, at Reading Crown Court in January 2012. As the Crown Prosecution Service summary tells us, she was jailed for a minimum of four years and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register. This NACRO document tells us that anyone imprisoned for 30 months or more stays on the register “indefinitely”.

THE AFTERMATH

It became clear from police and council statements that if it was Roderick – now going by the name of Bridget McGinley – then she was not the tenant of the property in Monkton, the tenant being a man with whom she was co-habiting.

But then, to confuse matters, in this report from the Pembrokeshire Herald Superintendent Ian John of Dyfed Powys Police, says, “The two residents of that flat, as it stands, neither of those two people, were actually currently on the sex offender’s register. The facts are, they were not on the sex offender’s register. It would be inappropriate for me to go into specific detail, but what I will say, the lady who moved in with the gentleman who is the tenant of the flat, was not required to record her movements, as she would have been if she was on the sex offenders register.”

Superintendent John’s convoluted statement suggests three options. 1/ Somebody made a terrible mistake, stirring up a mob when it was not Amber Roderick/Bridget McGinley in that flat, 2/ If it was her, then she has somehow been taken off the Sex Offenders’ Register, 3/ Superintendent John is mistaken.

Also quoted in the Pembrokeshire Herald report is ‘Annalee’ who seems to suggest that in Wales offenders remain on the Sex Offenders Register for only five years, with the clear implication that in Scotland and England the period is longer. Is this true?

Well, after consulting the NACRO document again I believe that in the case that ‘Annalee’ refers to, the age of the offender, and the sentence handed down, meant that he stayed on the register for only five years. And it would have been the same in England. (I can’t speak for Scotland.)

Something else that struck people about the Herald report was local councillor Pearl Llewellyn saying, “I was told by Pembrokeshire County Council not to get involved or to come to these meetings, but I have, because my daughter lived in Monkton.” But she’s the elected representative of these people! Why would the council – and what does she mean by “the council”? – tell her not to get involved?

CONCLUSIONS

There are obviously questions to answer, not least – who owns the property in question; is it Pembrokeshire County Council or Pembrokeshire Housing Association? Or is it perhaps a third party, a private landlord, or even an offshore entity leasing property to social landlords, such as I exposed in Link Holdings (Gibraltar) Ltd?

Someone with whom I’m in contact is having great difficulty getting an answer to that simple question from Pembrokeshire County Council.

In the original version of this section I quoted the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 70 (1) (j) which says that sex offenders and others coming out of prison get preferential treatment in the allocation of social housing.

I was pulled up and pointed to the preamble reading, “a person who has a local connection with the area of the local housing authority . . . “. This is not worth the paper it’s printed on. After years of studying the operations of social landlords I know that no ‘local connection’ is needed to be housed by social landlords in Wales.

If the Llansiadwel Housing Association is offered two or three times the normal rate to house a paedophile from Newcastle who’s never set foot in Wales they’ll jump at it.

To understand the truth of what I’m saying you only have to consider the case in Monkton. If it was Roderick/McGinley living there, then it’s reasonable to assume that the tenant was the boyfriend identified in Reading Crown Court as Patrick Maughan and sentenced to six years in prison at the same trial. Both could have been recently released, and neither has a local connection to Pembrokeshire.

As I say, there are just so many questions. The best way to clear things up, to placate the residents of Monkton, and to restore faith in the council, is for both the council and the police to come clean and give the full details of this case.

Also, for social housing providers and other agencies to stop dumping undesirables from England in Wales, no matter what financial and other incentives are offered.

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90 thoughts on “Titbits & Updates 15.07.2017”

Big Gee

The chickens are coming home to roost Jac.

Others, including me, were warning of the consequences of using our country as a dumping ground for undesirables fifteen years ago. We were treated as lepers and labelled Fascist racists – even by some within our own parties. I resigned, because I knew that I would be forced out as a pariah within Plaid if I didn’t.

Even worse, some hypocrites denounced publicly what we were warning about, but in private they would whisper their support, and I’m talking elected MPs of the time here. However they didn’t have the balls to support us publicly, because they feared that they would spook the imaginary support of immigrants, who they assumed would withhold support for them in future elections.

Short sighted clowns. I hope their consciences are keeping them awake now. Or maybe they’re happy for the Mark Bridgers of this world to roam freely in our midst, as long as they promise to vote Plaid.

These horror stories, like the one you mentioned in Monkton is the result of using Cymru as a penal colony, not to send prisoners to, but somewhere to dump them in anonymity after they leave prison. Does any ‘NORMAL’ country allow this? Certainly not, but as I’ve mentioned before, we are not a NORMAL country are we?

As for Julian Ruck – you’re going to have to wait for his brain to recover after his accident about eighteen months ago (his words not mine). He was the victim of a hit & run accident. Some things don’t susrprise me!! Hope he recovers soon, and comes to his senses.

Well Jac, two of the subjects that you discuss in this post are related but the only way that anyone would ever guess is by doing a bit of digging. The problem of undesirables arriving from elsewhere to live in north Wales can be traced directly to the north Wales child abuse scandal. One of the – few – people who did go to prison for child abuse as a result of all that was John Allen, who is still in prison. Allen owned a number of children’s homes and used them to groom under-aged boys for the purposes of prostitution and then transferred them to brothels that he owned in London and Brighton – where some of those paying for sex were high profiles politicians, from ALL parties, including people close to Thatcher. Allen employed the most monstrous abusive paedophiles as staff, who often came from outside of north Wales and Allen’s very profitable business also involved accepting children on placement from Local Authorities right across England and Wales, especially London and the West Midlands. So north Wales became a bit of a mecca for abusive people employed in childrens homes and indeed visiting those homes to abuse the kids. The Waterhouse Inquiry famously only touched on some of what was going on, blaming the whole lot of a few Welsh sheepshaggers, failing to mention the involvement of VIPs and Westminster figures.

The Press Secretary to William Hague – the Minister who organised the cover-up that was Waterhouse – at the time was one Amanda Platell. By the time that she was working for Hague she had already worked for the Mirror Group in a very senior role and had sat on the Board. Platell is very well connected re the London based media and is a very powerful figure. That is why you will never read anything worthwhile about the very serious institutional child abuse that went on in the children’s homes in north Wales in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Platell and those like her will not publish anything about the Westminster connection. It is still believed to be the work of cavemen in north Wales. It wasn’t. I have blogged extensively about Platell’s connections and the way in which none of it ever hit the media on my own site if anyone’s interested. By the way, a number of those kids who were abused and were brave enough to give evidence were subsequently found dead in suspicious circumstances.

Dr Sally Baker, It is not hard to imagine that those who have orchestrated the horrific abuse of children in North Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland across England and Jersey, were well aware of the totally destructive effects that this abuse has on very vulnerable children from the poorest backgrounds. Consequently, it is not then hard to imagine the destabilising effect that this then has on wider society as a whole, as those children become dysfunctional adults. For this reason, it is not surprising that North Wales was chosen, with firstly, the total disregard to the lives of the poor children involved and secondly, to create social chaos, which is not good for unity and independence. Follow the money as they say, where did John Allen get all that money to buy all those homes in North Wales and how was he able to traffic children to and from boroughs in London and why is it still being covered up, is Peter Morrison MP, the big issue or is there much more to it?

Peter Morrison was only one of the people involved – colleagues of his from the Tory Party have admitted that he was a paedophile and he was known to be visiting children’s homes in north east Wales. But the children’s home in Bangor, Ty’r Felin, was also supplying children for sex work. Girls were being sold out to men locally but boys were trafficked to London. It is alleged that they were introduced to a Tory businessman and lobbyist who was a speechwriter for Thatcher who then passed them onto other political figures. It is still being covered up because of the sheer number of professional and political people involved in the whole shoddy business. Scores of lawyers, doctors and social workers were involved in either the trafficking or not blowing the whistle on it at the time. Numerous Councillors who again did not blow the whistle later became MPs and some of them are now in the Lords. People from right across the political spectrum are involved. Not all those involved were actually abusing children themselves – but they kept quiet about it when they should not have and they are now deeply compromised. That is why the cover up continues.

Thanks for the various updates, Jac. Very interesting as usual. With regard to the Mongton incident, strange statement from Cllr. Pearl Llewellyn, reported in Pembrokeshire Herald. “I was told by the Council not to get involved or come to these meetings”. Perhaps someone should take Pearl to one side and whisper in her ear that the role of an elected Councillor is to scrutinise and hold Officers to account and not to be told by Officers that she should not get involved. Would it be unkind to suggest that she may not be the shiniest “pearl” in the ocean. Could this help to explain the issues in Pembrokeshire, where appointed officers are now in control rather than elected Councillors. As you say, many unanswered questions. The Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ian Westley, appears to be unable to confirm at present whether the flat is owned by the Council or by Pembrokeshire Housing Association. Not a difficult question for a CEO. I’m sure this story will run for a while. Look forward to an update in the future when the full facts emerge.

Yes, I noticed that, and wondered. It could be that the council has something to hide, and one defence it’s considering is to gloss over the presence of the sex offenders in the hope of diverting attention to the ‘mindless mob’, which got it all wrong. A defence that would be much easier to employ if the reputation of the unsupported residents could be tarnished. I suppose this might be called the Hillsborough Defence.

It will be interesting to receive a reply from Helen White {Chair – Regulatory Board for Wales} to my enquiries on the subject. The role of the Board is to oversee and scrutinise the work of Welsh Government Housing Regulation Team and advise Welsh Ministers on housing policy. To date, I have received a brief acknowledgement {copied below}. I assume she will be briefed on the issues by Welsh Government before responding to my enquiry. Will update you in due course.

Dear Mr Jones

Thank you for your email. I’m just going to double check a few details but hope to respond to you asap.

We will reach a point soon where any child molester or other kind of serious offender against communities ( as opposed to offences against establishment clique interests ) should be treated as fair game for instant justice administered by the community in which they have chosen to indulge in their deviant activity. When a few of these wasters are found hanging from lamp posts the message may begin to sink in that Wales does not welcome perverts and similar deviants. We have a few of our own and a new climate of intolerance may motivate them to bugger off to London Birmingham Liverpool Manchester and other points east of Clawdd Offa. That in itself would be a nice change.

I wouldn’t let the genie out of the bottle on that one Dafis. The public can’t be trusted. Do you remember that incident in Casnewydd some years ago? Where what the public thought was a paedophile, was actually a paediatrician! The illiterate twats – many who had good values, but an atrocious education, who thought both terms meant the same! So vigilante mobs can’t be trusted to get it right – unfortunately.

On the other side of the coin, the problem lies with our ‘neoliberal do gooder’ politicians, who seem to have dominated the scene over recent times. Where more concern is shown to perpetrators than victims. Coupled to an inadequate police force and a wishy washy judiciary. That’s what’s fuelled mob reactions, where people take the law into their own hands.

The other factors are paedophile rings littered with powerful people – some of whom are the ones who control governance of the UK’s countries and the judiciary. And of course our old problem of using our colonised country as a retreat for these perverts, and all other dross that lands here unopposed from the other side of Clawdd Offa. As you rightly say, we have enough problems of our own, without adopting the problems of our neighbours.

bit of unintended collateral damage at Casnewydd ! but seriously, dumping my tongue in cheek nonsense, there is a boiling point beyond which communities become so resentful of the authorities’ flippant attitude towards real public safety that they will take the law into their own hands and sometimes the wrong person will get tarred and feathered, or even worse. Take all this recent bollocks about anti terrorism “measures” – most of them are aimed at protecting the ruling cliques and other self appointed “elites” while the like of us can take a chance on getting through one’s life without some nut, Islamist fanatic or BNP/AngloBrit supremacist, striking us down in some mad delusional gesture. Wrong place at wrong time, and we are at serious risk, Mrs May and her kind can stroll around with permanent layers of protection. “We’re all in this together” – like fuck we are !

It’s no coincidence that Monkton is a relatively deprived area, certainly for Pembrokeshire, and it’s no surprise that such communities – whether they’re in the Valleys, along the north coast or even in areas like Pembrokeshire – are the ones where the dumping takes place.

Because what we find in these areas is a) very cheap private housing (certainly by London standards), b) social housing run by councils or, more likely, housing associations looking to make extra money from taking in deviants and criminals, c) private landlords or charities working hand in glove with the (now privatised) probation services and other bodies.

Then, to be make it absolutely clear that this dumping is not happening by accident, the ‘Welsh Government passes legislation saying that persons released from prison, anywhere in the UK, get priority treatment in the allocation of social housing in Wales. No local connection needed.

Is the last paragraph true?
National Assembly for Wales
Bill Summary
Housing (Wales) Bill
January 2014
Online pdf
Page 17: ‘The Bill proposes that former prisoners will no longer automatically be considered to be in priority need, but will need to demonstrate that they are vulnerable as a result of their detention and that they have a local connection.’

The Housing (Wales) Act 2014
70 Priority need for accommodation
.
(1)
The following persons have a priority need for accommodation for the purposes of this Chapter—
….
(j)
a person who has a local connection with the area of the local housing authority and who is vulnerable as a result of one of the following reasons—
.
(i)
having served a custodial sentence within the meaning of section 76 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000,
.
(ii)
having been remanded in or committed to custody by an order of a court, or
.
(iii)
having been remanded to youth detention accommodation under section 91(4) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012,
.
or a person with whom such a person resides or might reasonably be expected to reside.

What that says is someone with a local connection has priority need, but in practice anyone released from prison has priority in Wales. And local connection counts for very little. Just look at the case under discussion; if the Sun, Mail and others have got it right then these people have no connection with Pembrokeshire.

Something else to bear in mind is that on release many prisoners are initially housed in the area near their former prison, often ‘half-way houses’, this is a major concern with the new super prison in Wrecsam.

What something says on the page should not be taken as a guide to what happens in practice, certainly not when dealing with the allocation of social housing in Wales. Partly because there is no oversight, housing associations are a law unto themselves.

So, your statement that the Welsh Government Welsh Government “passes legislation saying that persons released from prison, anywhere in the UK, get priority treatment in the allocation of social housing in Wales” is false.
I have heard that Probation Offices and Social Services Departments in England make attractive offers to Welsh Councils if they take their problem cases. I say ‘I have heard’ but I have no proof.

On a lighter note, the ‘Sporting Post’ on Saturday in Swansea was a nice earner for school pupils lucky enough to get a sales patch. It was possible to make far more in one evening selling the sports edition than delivering the news title six evenings a week.

I shall re-write that to make it clear that ‘local connection’, as we see in Monkton, is not worth the paper it’s printed on. Ex-cons are coming from all over. Which is why your second paragraph states a known truth.

Paper boy earnings on Saturday nights were boosted by tips from generous men who’d had a drink or two. I don’t know how old you are Daley but I’d hate to think that as a lad you had taken advantage of an inebriated me.

‘I have heard that Probation Offices and Social Services Departments in England make attractive offers to Welsh Councils if they take their problem cases. I say ‘I have heard’ but I have no proof.’

In 25 years in Welsh departments have honestly never come across this behaviour. The most common ‘entry point’ is through privately rented housing then rehousing or private exchanges. There is no way that a Welsh council would want to take on a really problematic family because of the huge costs of providing care eg secure accommodation.

You may be right about councils not taking such people directly, but you must know how the system operates. Get yourself a sub-standard private rent and you can leap up the waiting list for social housing, partly because you now have an address in the area and can claim to be ‘local’.

You can go to extreme lengths. I knew one guy – I used to drink with him – with no local connections who camped on Tywyn beach with his family and blackmailed the council into housing them. Then again, a regular ploy used in this area is to move down, rent a caravan for the winter (the leakier the better), claim to be in sub-standard accommodation . . . children at risk . . . will be homeless once tourist season starts – bingo! you’re housed almost immediately.

Another route involves third parties. There was a lot of publicity a few years ago about ex-cons being moved into Llanelli, particularly the area around the railway station. It was described by a local councillor as being “Little Beirut”. The culprit in this case was a third sector outfit called Cymdeithas Caer Las, which deals with ‘social exclusion’. The most recent available accounts tell us that Caer Las has assets of over two million pounds and a property portfolio of £1.3m, the rental income for 2016 was £745,000.

Caer Las works closely with the probation service, and not just in the Swansea area.

What I’m saying is that it’s unlikely that a Welsh council would take a problem family, criminal, or other problematic tenant directly from England. But that’s not how it’s done. It’s done through third parties and intermediaries, those who would not be housed had they applied from their address in England make their own way to Wales, or are brought in by the third parties referred to.

Here’s another example. I was told by someone working in Cardigan that the building he worked in was also used by some group that he couldn’t quite identify. But anyway, ‘disturbed’ teenagers from England would regularly appear – with their whole family in tow! It’s almost certainly this lot, which not only helps the “homeless” and “those in need of assistance”, but has a sideline in property lets – ‘Let us manage your property, we have plenty of tenants lined up!’

Of course, if you ask these buggers where their ‘clients’ come from you get an outraged response and mentions of ‘confidentiality’, ‘vulnerable people’, etc. In other words, ‘We’ve got a nice little racket going shipping in England’s problems’. And of course, once they’re here, in ‘unsuitable’ accommodation, they qualify for social housing.

This is just a snapshot. If it’s not done on the applicant’s own initiative, then the dirty work of bringing in the problems is invariably done by intermediaries, though housing associations seem to do it directly as well.

It is wrong to dismiss Ruck as a pompous little prick, a snob. He is neither. To be pompous you need to be taken seriously by someone and to be a snob a person of perceived status. The reality is that Ruck is an obnoxious inadequate. A kind of Walter Mitty that polite society (colonial classes who retire to Wales because they can’t afford the Cotswolds) will just about tolerate. An awkward git who’d get an embarrassed local businessman to pay his bar bill at Ffos Las. The reality is that beneath that thin veneer of class is a vulgar bigot whose inadequacy is expressed by denigrating those of other cultures, of those who posses originality and genuine endeavour. The sad thing is, he’s probably top of the small pond of mediocre retirees from England that have moved to Laugharne having previously misread a work of genuine literary prowess who once got pissed and had a shed there. Equivalent of a tattooed lager Brit on the Costas only in the style of a fake Edwardian prancing Wales with gaudy jackets. The highlight of his meagre existence must be collecting a copy of the Post from the newsagent to read his own scribbles to boost his ego. Too self obsessed to spot an approaching boy-racer on a burn up from Porth Tywyn. In some ways, I too, feel sorry for him. But not enough to care.

Did you also hear the seemingly spooky journalist, Simon Heffer this week on ‘Any Questions’, stating in a very disparaging way, how Wales, “would never vote for independence, not in a million years”. Another arrogant, out of touch, tool of the establishment, I would love him proved wrong.

That’s because far too many people in this country (Wales) are whipped dogs and behave as such.

They’re more concerned with keeping tax credits and housing benefits and other crumbs from England’s table than they are with their own pride and sense of identity. Not to mention the fact that they have been reduced to a nation of beggars and accept that as their lot and destiny.

Red Flag – ‘whipped dogs and behave as such.’I’m sure the Welsh people would be somewhat irritated by that, but you are entitled to your opinion.I wonder why Welsh speakers are so annoyed at someone who takes a valid complaint as to the cost of it? Speak Welsh and enjoy it, but a criticism of the cost to the taxpayer is surely a legitimate concern?

A friend and I – he an economist – are currently gathering data on the cost to the Welsh budget, especially the NHS, of tens of thousands of English people retiring to Wales. (We might even add the decrepit, the dysfunctional, and the delinquent, being taken in by housing associations and other bodies.)

Given your concern for the Welsh public finances, and that the figures emerging dwarf what is spent on the Welsh language, can we take it as read that you will write about this unnecessary waste of public money?

Failure to do so might paint you as an atavistic and slightly unbalanced bigot obsessing on the Welsh language. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?

I’ll look forward to seeing the result of that Jac. For the last twenty years, England has followed a policy of exporting it’s citizens that need a welfare state to look after them to Wales. In your part of the world it is most visible in terms of respectable elderly retirees, in places like Rhyl it was visible in terms of people with drug problems/mental health issues who are dispossessed
and often in trouble with the law. Liverpool and Manchester Councils were known to be sending the citizens that they did not want to Wales under the umbrella of ‘relocating them’ ‘for a fresh start’. Areas like Powys are now filling up with ‘care homes’, often offering very questionable care, for the learning disabled and/or mentally ill, frequently from England. This syndrome cannot just be conceptualised as the exporting of ‘problematic people’, it is the exporting of people who are costly to the state. I have been interested in doing an economic analysis of this for many years, but I knew that if I applied to a research council for funds I would never be successful because no-one will admit that this is actually happening. I’m sure that if a big study was undertaken with a team of economists the results would blow all these accusations of the hopelessness of Wales out of the water – Wales is looking after the citizens that England doesn’t want. I also suspect that this is the basis of some figures that I saw recently regarding the very high rate of disability in Wales.

It is definitely happening, it results in drug gang wars and murders along the north coast and all manner of other burdensome groups being ‘relocated’ here. Everyone can see it but no one is allowed to talk about it. But I intend blowing the lid on it. Watch this space!

Julian Ruck:
“I wonder why Welsh speakers are so annoyed at someone who takes a valid complaint as to the cost of it? Speak Welsh and enjoy it, but a criticism of the cost to the taxpayer is surely a legitimate concern?”

A person’s basic human right to speak their mother tongue in their own country, coupled with the protection of a culture and language that is the oldest spoken in Europe (excepting Basque), should not even be mentioned in the same sentence as economics and how much it costs.

Speaking your language, that has survived for THOUSANDS of years is not a luxury that is measured by how much money you have.

That is the fundamental flaw in the ridiculous argument – that it costs too much. Our language, culture, history and heritage was being forged before the first coin was minted.

Anyone who argues for the demise and EXTINCTION of their national language, based on cost to the Treasury, is a person who has been sucked into the mentality of the coloniser. In our case the Anglo Saxon.

Julian, a majority of councillors in Carmarthenshire speak Welsh and use it in council meetings. The council employs an interpreter so that non-Welsh speakers can understand what is being said. In the books this goes down as part of what the council is spending on the Welsh language, but I think you will agree that the cost should really be attributed to the English language and those like yourself who take pride in their monolingual ignorance. The same is true of many of the other costs attributed to Cymraeg. Perhaps we should start levying a service charge on monoglot English speakers. How would you like to pay?

With regard to the Mongton incident, the following statement is currently published on Council website.

“Ian Westley, the Chief Executive of Pembrokeshire County Council, this morning (Friday, 14th July) read the following statement outside County Hall, Haverfordwest, to protestors from Monkton, Pembroke:

“First of all I wish to stress that we, as the local authority, do understand and sympathise with your concerns. I am a parent myself and appreciate the fears and frustration which you all feel. We also recognise that this is an issue which is not just confined to Pembrokeshire but has been a subject for national debate for some years now throughout the UK. I need to make it abundantly clear that the female to whom your protest is directed was not placed in Monkton by Pembrokeshire County Council or any other organisation and therefore is not – and never has been – a Council tenant. As it was explained to you yesterday – outside Pembroke Dock police station – she moved in with the Council tenant, we assume at his request. However, I can give you an assurance today that the individual concerned – together with the Council tenant – are no longer in the County. The tenancy has been surrendered. We are aware that you have prepared a series of questions and we are committed to working with you in this regard. If you would nominate five or six people to meet with us now that process can start today. Thank you for listening.”

Representatives from the protest group then entered County Hall for a meeting with senior Council officers”

I think the focus should be on the Council tenant {as well as his girlfriend}. I would like to receive the following information from the Council.
The date the tenancy agreement was executed.
The date the tenancy agreement was surrendered.
Reason the tenancy agreement was surrendered.
The Local authority area the tenant has been re-located to.

I doubt if the Council could refuse to provide the information as the request does not require them to disclose personal data, only general data. The request should therefore comply with the data management principles set out in the Data Management Act 1998.

You’re right, if only because the council must know who they took on as a tenant. (If indeed the council still owns the property.)

I’m assuming that if the woman involved was Amber Roderick / Bridget McGinley then she may not have had much chance to meet another man since being released from a female prison, and so it’s reasonable to assume that the tenant was her boyfriend when both were sent down in January 2012, Patrick Maughan.

Though I’m beginning to suspect that PCC is reluctant to give out any information.

If that’s the case let her be shifted back to her roots in Cardiff South East where she will be nearer to her kin. Point is they probably don’t want sweet F.A to do with her. Is this a sign that Cardiff, in the process of becoming increasingly gentrified, is taking a leaf out of its role models, the Anglo metropolitan authorities, and dumping its dross out in the sticks.

You know my view, I gave up on Plaid Cymru years ago. With Wales falling apart around us, suffering attacks from all quarters, how much longer can you continue supporting a party going nowhere, a party that will sabotage itself if there’s any possibility of success? (Believe me, it will!)

Well Adam Price wants a sister party that sits in the centre and right to do all the work for them. Considering it’d likely divide their voter base and worse have an unnecessary divide in Welsh politics (because the fight for Wales has always done so fucking well in the past when it’s been divided).

I’d say it already has sabotaged itself again… because in the least that shows that Plaid as a whole is unwilling to abandon its Labour Lite attitude in favour of the Welsh identity they claim to protect. At worst it wants to repeat the oldest mistake in our history: dividing the cause.

Its getting worrying because Labour will never be the voice for Wales… with Brexit negotiations coming up you can guarantee Labour will throw us under the bus just to blame the Tories and keep their Welsh power base. “This is like it is because of the way the Tories negotiated Brexit” or in the event of another election Corbyn wins “This is because of the way Leave handled things and we cannot do anything about it”. Uch.

I have not written for while. Somebody came up to me in the supermarket the other day who was fully aware of my political heritage and posed the question what does it all mean? What is going on in Wales, what is going on in the UK, what is going on globally? I smiled wryly, I said well there are lots of people standing on their front door steps shouting with angst about a diverse number of things, social media represents this fully.

However, I like many are not coming up with a credible manifesto which address the big issues and the the smaller ones. We are desperate for competent politicians who are willing to find solutions to the dilemmas we face.

I live in a country with a colonial heritage, that has many divisions within nationalism and unionism and others who are not that bothered by any of the groupings. There are real grievances on many fronts that the Welsh Government appears determined not too address. I do not have a clue why they are fearful of addressing these real issues. I can list many but here are few what is the economic raisonne d’aitre for the country, what economic activities should be actively supported by the state? How was land acquired historically and how can land ownership be resolved going forward? How should we address the diverse generational concerns of our residents? How do we develop world class education, health and social care services?

Surely we have to find some vision which is acceptable to sufficient residents of the country that enables us to do the detailed work of solving the day to day issues blighting our country, the young will continue to depart for economic and social reasons and take up residence globally. The vision surely has to involve a move beyond the many divisions by systematically working through people’s real sense of grievance. Frankly I do not mind where we start, I am happy to listen to anyone’s grievance and their proposals for a solution and how that is built upon by others, there are always ways forward, reconciliation and reconstruction where mutual respect can be found or real disagreements bottomed out and just about lived with.

I have no positional power and very limited personal power but I would be up for working with anyone locally, regionally or nationally who want to work on solutions to any of our issues, I personally do not want to stand on my doorstep shouting at people as they pass by or on social media.

Surely we have to find some vision which is acceptable to sufficient residents of the country that enables us to do the detailed work of solving the day to day issues blighting our country, the young will continue to depart for economic and social reasons and take up residence globally. The vision surely has to involve a move beyond the many divisions by systematically working through people’s real sense of grievance. Frankly I do not mind where we start, I am happy to listen to anyone’s grievance and their proposals for a solution and how that is built upon by others, there are always ways forward, reconciliation and reconstruction where mutual respect can be found or real disagreements bottomed out and just about lived with.

I’m not sure if its so much about policies or anything like that. You are correct however there has to be one vision everyone can relate too. The ideals of a party are what sells it to people or not. Plaid is the Welsh language party in the minds of many and their policies don’t get much of a mention beyond that. Labour and Tories fill the Working class party and rich peoples party… which is why its rather futile for Plaid to be chasing that crown in Wales – because there’s already a party which monopolises the Socialist working class ideal.

It comes down too Plaid needing to imitate SNP. Welsh nationalism is an ideal unique to them – they currently have no competition. History needs to be taught, they need to make a fuss about the “Prince of Wales” and all other such things. Thats by no means me saying they should neglect language or other policies but they need to play the “Them” and “Us” game… not just against Labour but against Unionism. When they stand up and speak they are essentially telling a story… and all good story tellers know its better to show your audience rather than just tell them.

Thanks for this. It is exactly this sort of grievance, sense of unfairness that has to be engaged with.

I can’t believe teaching the history of Wales in our schools,further and higher education can be objected to by many. It needs to be done in an international context that highlights the stories of other countries that were colonised and worked their way towards becoming an independent nation states, the successes and the shortfalls. It also needs to focus on the stories of the First Nation/native tribes and how many of them are still struggling to take their full role in nation states. You only need to reflect on the recent celebrations in Canada re their “independence” to realise how First Nation people were largely excluded and still play a marginal role in the governance of the country.

My three children were educated in Wales all the way to university but none of them picked up a deep understanding of Welsh history from their teachers.

Republicanism has a reputable history across the globe, it should be taught, we should also provide a detailed road map of how you reach a point where the monarchy plays no part in the governance of the country. This relates to my point about land ownership, land was acquired by monarch historically handing out great swathes of land. We need to have a Commission that records the history of these land holdings and how they are returned to the ownership of the people through being transferred initially to the new independent state. I am however a little surprised by the lack of peaceful demonstration every time a member of the monarchy comes to Wales, Prince Wales visit last week was largely anonymous.

So though many people may feel a deep grievance they do not appear to have a campaign and proposal to move forward with.

Leadership is about followship and unless leaders do the hard work of really deeply understanding the grievances and the sense of unfairness and then developing with others real life solutions there protests largely fade away.

I am a Norman, Englishman with very little Welsh language who has lived in Wales for 28 years. I would vote for independence because I believe the divisions will never be resolved until there is an independent Welsh nation state that works through the consequences of governing itself. I am not sure which of the many grievances should be prioritised to work through first but I am always disappointed that none of the people who put themselves forward for leadership seem willing to grapple with the detail of these issues.

I personally would be greatly uplifted if a series of Commissions with diverse membership grappled with these issues, a Welsh History Curriculum, a road to Republicanism, a land ownership and distribution Bill and so on and so on. I would even volunteer my services if fellow citizens felt I could be useful.

We know most of what the grievances are lets just come up with detailed solutions that we show to fellow citizens and campaign on?

I can’t believe teaching the history of Wales in our schools,further and higher education can be objected to by many. It needs to be done in an international context that highlights the stories of other countries that were colonised and worked their way towards becoming an independent nation states, the successes and the shortfalls.

Its not in the narrative of shared British history to teach Welsh history – as it highlights the oppression that was required to keep it all together and also in its own right can teach of Owain Glyndwr’s excellent statesmanship when Wales was effectively independent.

Republicanism has a reputable history across the globe, it should be taught, we should also provide a detailed road map of how you reach a point where the monarchy plays no part in the governance of the country. This relates to my point about land ownership, land was acquired by monarch historically handing out great swathes of land. We need to have a Commission that records the history of these land holdings and how they are returned to the ownership of the people through being transferred initially to the new independent state. I am however a little surprised by the lack of peaceful demonstration every time a member of the monarchy comes to Wales, Prince Wales visit last week was largely anonymous.

I’m afraid on that front my views deviate. I don’t consider myself a Republican for two reasons. One – All Republics are born through bloody conflict and usually go on the legitimise themselves through further conflict afterwards: Republic of France couldn’t wait to declare war on Britain, Ireland had its rising and we’ve had trouble ever since. Worth pointing out that Scotland wished to keep the Queen as head of state.

Secondly I believe that Wales should have its own Monarch. Not a Windsor, a native. That’s part of our identity – they were the embodiment of our struggle for survival. Not only that they make a link to a past Wales that has been forgotten by many. I think its key to reclaiming our history, shared identity and our heritage as a people. Not only that its also about understanding Unionism and the role the English Monarch plays in that and how on some level it keeps Britain together above all the political turmoil. Then we mimic it. It’d also be pretty amusing to see them try and justify Prince William becoming Prince of Wales native/s who have a genuine right… that is potentially a powder keg of epic proportions (the inauguration will be anyway but suggesting Saxe-Coburg-Gotha has more right than one of our own… that’d set people off).

Land ownership is complicated. The property of the Monarch is split between the Duchy of Lancaster and Crown Estates. Duchy of Lancaster was obviously the personal property of John of Gaunt which was largely inherited from his wife – the daughter of Henry of Grosmont – its best to think of estates like that as corporations of their day: they were not all seized properties. An example of this was the fact that when Henry IV became King he was happy enough to confiscate Owain Glyndwr’s lands because he was in the eyes of the crown a rebel but more importantly he had powerful friends he needed to pay off. So unless there was a good reason its probably more likely that land came together through marriages between powerful families rather than being seized.

Crown Estates… by George III’s time there was very little left. This is more an example of a modern day corporation which has gradually come to purchase lands legitimately in order to increase its portfolio and financial output. These are lands that belong to the Crown and reigning Monarch… but due to their bad management under the Hanover House of Germania they had to sign the income over to parliament. Today the Monarch gets a cut of the profit from Crown Estates called the “Sovereign Grant”. Many mistake it for tax payers money. I know there’s arguments that it’d be better spent on this that or the other… and that is the same as telling some one “If you only live off what you really need you can pay the state the rest so it goes towards helping people”. Look at the two tablets Mr and Mrs X bought for their kids… do they need them? No. That’s easily a few hundred quid that could go towards some ones health care! If everyone lived with only what they needed the money from Crown Estates would look like pittance. Always felt there’s a double standard there.

As far as land redistribution… lands confiscated over the centuries in Wales… I think Llandovery Castle pops to mind… hypothetically if it was still in the ownership of the Crown… where should it go? The descendants of its Welsh owners? Or the Welsh state? Does the state have a claim on it? Who descendants would get it if not? Again going back to Owain’s lands of Glyndyfrdwy which were taken by Henry IV – if hypothetically they were still owned by the Crown… are they given to the Welsh state? Or Owain’s descendants? Would they go to Ieuan ab Owain Glyndwr’s descendants? Even though he was a bastard? Or his female descendants? Very, very complicated. I don’t think the Welsh state would have any claim as currently or even as an independent state they’d have very little claim to them. Also worth pointing out that after the French Revolution… lands and finances were not seized. Still a few Comte’s who are very wealthy and retained their properties – though not their rights above their fellow man.

Thanks for this, lots to mull over. Just the sort of discussions a Commission would explore in depth and come out with proposals for the future. Until Welsh history is taught with all the colonial oppression included many citizens will feel aggrieved. The routes other ex colonial States took to independence would be welcomed on the curriculum if only to learn from mistakes and successes.

What the Constitutional Commission would propose in a new nation state constitution would be interesting, maybe there would not be a majority for a Republic. Certainly in Scotland those for independence are divided about the future role of the Monarchy.

I actually went back and read it again because I didn’t know where Drakeford’s seat was. That is very interesting.

He gave Wood many compliments as well so he clearly believes in where Plaibour is going… I’m not sure my original statement was correct. I think hes saying to the discontent nationalists “If you think you can do better give it a go”. Considering the potential threat to Plaibour he clearly doesn’t believe a sister/rival party would be successful.

Nobody should pay respect to Mark Drakeford, no matter what their political allegiances. He completely ignored the huge problems in the NHS in north Wales until they finally exploded in his face in the form of the Tawel Fan scandal. Whilst he was Health Minister I contacted him about a major healthcare research fraud based in the north. I did not receive a reply to my e mail. Some three weeks later Drakeford was photographed in the press with the very ‘researchers’ who were perpetrating the fraud, promoting this wonderful ‘therapy’.

I note that you have updated the information relating to the Mongton incident and rightly thrown the gauntlet down to the Council and Police. I think we deserve a clear explanation from them in the public interest. Time to “shake the tree” to see how many rotten apples fall to the ground.

Just read that Cynulliad have decided that no Med School will be established at Bangor. Thus the whole of North Wales will continue with its high dependency condition reliant on Liverpool, other North West centres for training of medics as Cardiff doesn’t give a shit about the needs of Gwynedd, or anywhere else for that matter. Once you venture outside a 20-30 mile radius of our esteemed capital you might as well be living on the moon as far as key services are concerned.

Maybe North Wales starts at Cefn Coed as far as the closed minds of Cardiff are concerned. However the valleys between A465 and M4 are regarded as a “dead zone” fit only for some dormitory settlements and dumping ground for undesirables. Yet these people still vote for CJ and his gang !!!!.

Dafis – There is certainly a serious problem with the standards of healthcare in the north and a lack of Welsh speaking staff. I too used to be passionately in favour of developing a med school at Bangor until I found out what the healthcare researchers at Bangor University – upon whose ‘expertise’ the proposed med school would be drawing upon – were up to. Research fraud, plagiarism, the robust promotion of therapies and interventions that they know do not work – the scams are massive. I do not know any other group of academics in Bangor that are carrying on as badly as the health/social care/psychology ‘researchers’, they are a disgrace. Believe me, it would not be a good idea to give that lot a medical school to wreck.

The problems have been there for years but have actually got worse as Bangor has tried to capitalise on itself as being a ‘centre of excellence’ for healthcare, because they wanted a medical school. The bullying, bad practice and general chaos in the School of Nursing – or School of Nothing as it was known – was so bad that a previous Vice-Chancellor just wanted to shut the whole thing down, people had tried for years to turn that place around with ‘support’, ‘mentoring’ etc. Nothing worked, but the V-C felt unable to close it down because of the squealing and accusations of him ‘attacking nurses/the NHS’. The School of Nursing is now the School of Healthcare Sciences and it now has even more problematic people in it who as far as I can see are still behaving appallingly. Students are suffering as well – complaints of bullying of students who reported seeing abuse or neglect of patients when they were on placement with the Betsi were rife.

Of course if a med school was developed at Bangor, the Betsi would be it’s partner – the Betsi that is millions in debt and getting worse, the Betsi in special measures, the Betsi currently at the centre of two investigations into the abuse of patients…

There are also numerous scams being conducted by staff and managers at the Betsi – they are giving out contracts to their mates’ businesses constantly.

North Wales has a very big problem indeed in it’s NHS – it does need a medical school but someone needs to clean up first, because nobody could trust that lot with a major investment.

DrSally – you obviously have 1st hand knowledge of the shit pit in Bangor and I accept that. However we can’t just ignore the region’s needs. Remedial actions on a organisation wide basis might be needed, indeed when some of the major culprits get flushed out others may begin to behave normally. The big ? mark right now is a matter of who has the nuts to go after this problem in a meaningful way, cleanse the stables and lay a foundation for something worthwhile going forward ?

What is needed is a new and proper ‘home grown’ genuine party in power at Y Senedd. A party that is aware of the problems and their causes. It seems that ‘Charismatic Carwyn’ and his mob have long ago given up sorting out the real problems, instead concentrating on what his cronies can leech out of the system, instead of using resources for the benefit of the nation. Plaid is just trying to be a ‘Mini Me’ of Labour.

I agree, it is a massive problem – it is the citizens of north Wales who really are suffering and they have been suffering with a very poor health and social care service for a very long time. The problem with corruption in medicine and associated research is that most members of the general public are not in a position to identify it. As long as the doctor/healthcare professional treating them keeps a smile on their face and is polite and friendly, how do they know if the test results have not been interpreted properly, if inaccuracies/defamatory comments are written on medical notes or if the ‘new treatment’ that they are on is based on a research fraud and will be ineffective?

No politician dares aim fire at the NHS – it’s the Taylor effect, they do not dare risk a local doctor (backed up behind the scenes by the all powerful BMA) challenging them in an election on a Save The NHS ticket. Not all doctors are heroes and not all nurses are angels, serious problems exist.

What is so dreadfully sad is that good people are being driven out of working in the NHS because of it all. If you are a practitioner with standards, it is becoming increasingly difficult to survive in the NHS, that is why midwives and nurses are heading for the door, it is nothing to do with pay.

By the way, the nurse who blew the whistle on the Tawel Fan scandal at the Betsi is still suspended by the NMC. She was also wrongfully arrested, falsely accused of having sex with patients and received death threats. The staff who abused those patients are all still working at the Betsi and refused to co-operate with the investigation that is currently going on. How was a situation like this ever allowed to evolve?

Again this highlights a real life grievance in North Wales. In my humble view we need to come up with detailed proposals for the NHS in North Wales.

In October Donna Ockenden is likely to report on how awful services are for older people. Most citizens I listen too say they cannot see Betsi coming out of special measures, all the public relations is not touching residents. There are many good people doing good work but also very poor standards in many areas.

In an independent nation state we would have to work through the consequences of developing a health and social care service that met our wants and needs. I have no idea whether this would involve a North Wales Medical school. It would certainly impinge on the education service we wanted, the immigration service we wanted, the tax we wanted to pay, the borrowing we wanted to make. How far we wanted to travel to get the services we needed and wanted, the availability of Welsh Language professional staff, how long we wait in A and E or for our cancer assessment and treatment.
I do not see the detailed work being done, if we do not have a clear picture of what we want to work towards we are never going to persuade voters.
I am pretty sure if I want a better health service I will have to pay more tax or private insurance, I suspect our national government will have to borrow more money at least in the early years of self government, we just need to spell these things out.
It will also impinge on what state pensions the new independent state pays, how much we pay towards the occupational pensions of our public servants, also the level of their salaries let alone what salaries are paid to a employes of a Welsh Public Broadcasting Authority or maybe we would choose a wholly commercial service?

These are definitely the things I want to work up and discuss with fellow citizens.

“This line stops at Cardiff” said the man from London – typical colonist bullshit. Anything beyond Cardiff is just irrelevant, populated by wild native folk and assorted Anglo Brit frontiersmen on a civilizing /exploitation mission !

The hype has effected many of us. Basically the whole project is a shit heap. Thanks to their media mouthpieces we’ve all been thrown the line that this is the best thing since sliced bread, and like good obedient ‘sheeple’ we’ve just assumed it is, because the politicians and the British Bullshit Corporation has told us so – so it must be true.

Now wake up for just a few minutes – you can go back to hypno-land after.

1st Nonsense – HR2 will connect major cities and open up new business opportunities. Really? Will these trains actually carry more goods and people than normal trains can do at present? Major cities are already connected by rail.

2nd Nonsense – they will speed up transportation. Really? On the last recall I understand that the journey from London to Cardiff will be reduced by 15 minutes. Wow! That means one less piss-stop. It takes about fifteen minutes to get to the toilet and back to your seat. Are they REALLY serious that shaving 15 minutes off a 150 mile journey that takes approx two and a half hours is a sober validation for this cost? Does your future business success depend on you getting to Kerdiff 15 minutes quicker?

Don’t worry good people of Abertawe you’ve missed out on fuck all – just government jiggery pokery (watch this hand, whilst the magician does something devious with the other). You won’t even notice the difference. Anyone who doesn’t deal with Abertawe because it hasn’t got HS2 is probably so ‘twp’ that it’s not worth bothering with them anyway.

BIG contracts, to BIG companies from the taxpayer’s purse. Sure a few jobs will be created, and we won’t hear the end of that. The real benefactors here are that top slice of super rich, who own the companies, that got the contracts from old chums they went to school with. That’s about it.

Gee I don’t disagree with your conclusion that the project lacked any real intrinsic value. However the decision reflects the utter disregard that London centred decision makers have for Wales, particularly the (big) bit that lies beyond Cardiff. Had this decision been accompanied with a resolution to invest in a seriously worthwhile alternative(s) adding real value to our attempts at modernising our industrial/ commercial base then most people would have bought into it. Instead we are just left with nothing and that is the damning indictment of the decision. A timetable stating that you might get to London 15 mins faster means fuck all, actually getting there on time would make a nice change.

I think we’re singing from the same hymn sheet Dafis. The way that this project, and it’s promises, have been managed is proof of something that we’ve all known for a VERY long time.

We’re here to be exploited – full stop. Nothing to do with making Cymru workable again. The jabber about HS2 finding it’s way to Abertawe was only hot air from the start, a tit bit to add a bit of polish, and reduce objections to the project.

Kerdiff just about sneaks into the picture at Westminster, beyond that Cymru is as relevant to them as the Gobi desert is to us.

THIS is major proof (once again) that the only way out of the mire is by independence. And even if we got that tomorrow, it would be a painful inch by inch advance to reach our goal of getting our country and it’s nation back on it’s feet.

Cutting public spending, decimating the life of those in need and encouraging poverty by austerity, so that a few fat cats can make a few extra million to top up their existing millions is the way that the ‘posh boys’ work.

The project was an exercise in ego masturbation, and a means of making money for the few, by exploiting the pennies paid in by the poorest many (conservative cost projection – £56 billion) It’s nothing short of a scam. People to the west of Kerdiff can dry their eyes it was only a smoke and mirrors job, and as I said in my previous post, it’s fuck all to worry about. You’ve missed out on nothing.

Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)
5. What steps he is taking to electrify the rail network to Swansea and further west.

The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Grayling)
I congratulate the hon. Lady on her election to this House. Electrification work is continuing on the Great Western main line, but the good news for her constituents and others in south Wales is that the new generation of electric trains will arrive in Cardiff and Swansea this autumn, providing more seats and better journey experiences. That is good news for rail users in south Wales and the west country.

Tonia Antoniazzi
It has been reported that the Secretary of State is preparing to announce yet further delays to the Great Western main line electrification programme, and my constituents in Gower are fed up with the contempt that the Government continue to show them on investment. The Secretary of State has said that the ​programme will happen, but will he promise that it will not be delayed any further? We need to make Swansea the gateway to west Wales.

Chris Grayling
I appreciate the importance of transport to Swansea, and that is precisely why I am doing what the hon. Lady’s constituents will want, which is to deliver them a better journey experience not in several years’ time but this autumn. They will have a new generation of trains that will provide much better journeys to London, which is exactly the kind of service they want. When the first new train comes to Swansea, I hope that she will be there to see it and will realise what a difference it will make to her constituents’ rail journeys in south Wales and elsewhere.

Grayling is just one of many odious creeps prancing around on that Front Bench. The problem is much bigger than him or the Government in which he serves. These people treat the entire U.K as their personal fiefdom having the “ministerial right” to tell lies, inflict misery and generally misdirect resources as they please. The only people that gain are the relatively few who occupy positions of wealth, either inherited or ill gotten, who direct these muppet politicians to steer affairs in a direction which gives them, the few, maximum benefit. A system based on interlocking daisy chains of mutual backscratchers – will take a lot of breaking up.

Fleet testing of the Hitachi 800 bi-modal trains were conducted at Kasado, Japan in March of this year.

The maximum acceleration achieved in diesel traction mode (nine cars) was found to be 0.575 m/s/s while an acceleration of 0.700 m/s/s was achieved under electric traction. This means that it takes 30% longer to accelerate to line speed under diesel generation mode. This is what determines the time it will take to travel from Cardiff to Swansea, especially as the train has to accelerate from a stand not just at Cardiff, but also at Bridgend, Port Talbot, and Neath.

Chris Failing claims that there will be no reduction in journey times as a result.

It’s not the line speed that determines the journey time but the time it takes to accelerate to line speed from a stand. The power to weight ratio means that it’s only possible to achieve anything close to the acceleration rate of electric traction is the reductions in the number of carriages. The Kasdo testing was done on nine-car sets which (five of the coaches with under-floor diesel engines) and a five-car sets with (three of the coaches with under-floor diesel engines).

This means that only the five car sets will get to Swansea. This is reflected in the contract that was signed between GWR and Eversholt Rail, the company that will own the trains and lease the rolling stock to the operator. This contract was signed in 2015. The contract was for 22 five-car-sets and seven nine-car-sets. This means that the current hourly service to South Wales will either be reduced to a train every two hours, or an hourly service will go to Cardiff only, with only a sporadic service through to Swansea.

Also, it should be noted that there’s a difference in the passenger floor level between carriages with under-floor diesel engines and those without. The disabled access carriages (with accessible toilets) is situated in the latter, so there will be less disabled access on the Swansea bound trains.

Science lessons for Antoniazzi ..

(a) The law of conservation of energy is that it can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it transforms from one form to another. So the confusion between direct drive diesel or diesel powered electrical generation is actually irrelavent. Whilst its true that an electric engine can provide more torque in the power to weight ratio, and therefore greater accellection, more hoursepower at any given time, needs to be applied. Bigger engines.
(b) The formula used for determining journey times of an electric train is a = (v – u) / t => v – u = at. This was something that was taught to 13year olds at the education authority she used to teach in. I’m surprised she was so easily fobbed off in her new role as front of the queue in the Westminster canteen.

Whilst it’s true that Mr Failing sneaked through the announcement just prior to the dissolution of the Westminster parliament to avoid scrutiny, with some suggesting that this was sugar coated with the Severn Bridge toll announcement, opposition Labour MPs have failed to scrutinise all the decisions that have led up to this announcement. Also, no informed debate has taken place in the Senedd since the Welsh Government opted to oppose the devolution of these matters to Wales.

You need to look at how Oral Answers to Questions are handled at the House of Commons
MPs have to submit a question in writing and it gets allocated a number.
After the Secretary of State has stood up and given an oral reply to the question, the MP who tabled the question is only allowed one follow up statement.

Do you honestly think that an MP standing up in the debating chamber and uttering “a = (v – u) / t => v – u = at” is likely to impress the House?

… and that is a sure sign that data rational discussions are alien to that House. Most of those muppets are either lacking in basic numeracy/quantitative techniques or look down their pompous PPE/Social science noses at people who engage in the data rational. Verbally fluent, empty headed twats do NOT make good political representatives and are certainly only good at pretending to be leaders of nations.

I agree that many MPs are not fit for purpose but bear in mind that the main debating chamber is not the place where the finer details of projects are pored over.
The issue here is a major project of importance that was promised has been ditched in the final hours before Parliamentary recess.
Here are the Zelo Street and Political Scrapbook reports.

Most of those muppets are either lacking in basic numeracy/quantitative techniques or look down their pompous PPE/Social science noses at people who engage in the data rational. Verbally fluent, empty headed twats do NOT make good political representatives and are certainly only good at pretending to be leaders of nations.

And therein lies the core problem. Most of the ‘muppets’ are from legal/ teaching backgrounds (usually from the arts subjects). People who can waffle fluently, but are totally devoid of any scientific knowledge – with very few exceptions.

I well remember trying to debate the ridiculousness of wind turbine energy generation from a technical point of view, with other politicians (some of whom openly admitted they were technophobes – Cynog Dafis being a case in mind). You might as well be talking about nuclear physics to a Bushman from the Kalahari.

However, they were totally taken in by lobbyists from the energy companies, and didn’t want to know about the scientific realities and facts. Not a clue, but these are the people who make the decisions.

The day after the election, when I saw that Labour had retaken Gower, I mentally consigned the electrification to Swansea to the dustbin. Neither of the two major UK parties have any incentive to invest here. The red rosette on a donkey syndrome means that Labour have no need for “sweeteners” here to keep the voters happy and now there’s nothing in it for the Tories either. I’m afraid that we’re royally stuffed although it adds insult to injury that Grayling, the most unpleasant and incompetent member of the cabinet (no mean feat) and to which we can now add cowardly, chose to reveal it to the Western Mail rather than to Parliament. Has Cairns bleated yet ?

I’m not sure you’re right. Political parties tend to favour marginal seats, which means Gower should be pandered to. If you’re looking for donkey voters then it’s the two other Swansea seats, plus Neath, and Aberavon.

Peter Walker ?? you must be joking. So many allegations about him from those who worked closely with him while he managed the “Principality” ( one of his favoured terms for his domain), accepting “gifts”, “helping” friends, working hard to make cronyism the default position for the Welsh Office. Superficially very likeable, easy going, public school twat, but not a man to present as a role model for this type of position.

just noted Jac’s tweet about an upcoming Valleys Initiative – recycling failed models is a sure fired way of prolonging the dependency begging bowl condition, although there will be plenty of 3rd sector shysters who will do nicely out of it. Labour looks after its own, and Plaid dishes out TLC to them what’s suffering !! “Standing Up for Wales” means “Fighting for Wales” not giving up a seat every time some fat Labour bastard wants a sit down.

An independent Welsh state would have to decide whether to prioritise borrowing £800milliom to electrify the railway line to Swansea or invest in the Valleys infrastructure or borrow money to upgrade the North Wales transport system. I do not know which I would prioritise first or something else but what would be so much better is that the citizens of Wales would decide and we would stop spending so much energy blaming the UK Government or for that matter the European Union.

We would go to the international money markets and pitch our infrastructure projects and decide whether we were willing to pay the price offered to complete our preferred projects just like every independent nation state does. I am not sure what our view would be about Chinese, Indian, Qatar or American money but we would at least take responsibility for the decision and outcome.

Paul – given that the prevailing grim reality is that we are currently stuck inside a London centric political and economic model it is fair enough to have a good moan. It becomes very difficult to refrain from foaming around the mouth when you see the HS2 extravaganza being hyped for all it’s worth when so many of the ordinary folks in middle England don’t want it ! ( and not just out of nimbyism either ). Add to that the prospect of next generation of Trident when the real threat to our security will view mutual assured destruction as a quick way of meeting their God. And add to this nightmare the expansion of Heathrow ,further reductions in the taxation burden on our poor impoverished global business leaders and you have as accurate a picture of government misspending as you could ever imagine. Pitching to the international money markets ( or international money cartel conspiracy might be a more appropriate term) gets you into all sorts of deep shit, with plenty of case studies in countries being guided down the plughole by Advisers from the likes of Goldman Sachs.

This proliferation of vanity projects at great expense when those resources could be far better deployed dealing with real needs can been viewed as a case of serial crimes against the people. Our current crop of politicians – in Wales, the U.K and E.U – will squabble about the minutae of these projects but fail to see the bigger picture of how little if anything will actually be achieved to better the lot of Joe and Jane Public (or Sion a Sian in Wales ). In the context of a multi layered failed state the only logical solution is to leave it, get out of the mess and secure full independence.

Thank you.
I clicked on the link to Amazon and read the sample pages. My first thought was: ‘Surely no one would publish works containing so many misuses of the apostrophe?’ So, I did a little research. (Approximate time taken: one minute.)
“the peoples’ guardian” See: Chapter One, Line Six of ‘A Judge and Nothing but’ by Julian Ruck.
Even the Google Search application flags ” the peoples’ guardian ” as an error.